


The Scarf

by FrsdGirl



Series: I Thought Romance Was a Foregone Conclusion... [4]
Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Candace is TRYING to understand, F/M, Low levels of angst, Oh Isabella, You are so oblivious, fluffiest fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:01:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26664853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrsdGirl/pseuds/FrsdGirl
Summary: Isabella is cold. Phineas has a scarf. And I have no self-restraint when it comes to fluff. One-shot from their last semester of high school. Special appearance by our favorite older sister Candace, who doesn't try to interfere for once.
Relationships: Phineas Flynn/Isabella Garcia-Shapiro
Series: I Thought Romance Was a Foregone Conclusion... [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1931140
Comments: 22
Kudos: 68





	The Scarf

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO MY FRIENDS!   
> This was inspired by a rewatch of Isabella's "Let It Snow" number. I couldn't help but give girlie her chance to live out that scarf moment :)
> 
> Do I own Phineas and Ferb?  
> No, no I don't.   
> Does the credit go to Dan and Swampy?  
> Yes, yes it does.

Isabella rushed through her house, picking up whichever random winter clothes happened to be lying around. Thankfully, most of her wardrobe was pink and white so nothing could clash that badly. She yelled out a quick goodbye to her mother and then barreled out the door, only to be accosted by a cold wind that left her teeth chattering instantly.

 _Scarf_. She thought to herself. _Should have brought a scarf._

A string of curse words ran through her head, all directed at the school superintendent who decided that high school was going to start so %#%$^*& early in the morning. She was not a morning person. Normal people were not morning people. She glanced over at the house across the way and couldn’t help but smile at the brothers waiting outside. Okay, they were morning people, but they were most definitely not normal. Not that she minded. Today would have been a perfect day for some of that not normal if it manifested itself in warm transport. A bubble, toboggans, a herd of pelicans, anything would do as long as it was warm.

The two boys glanced up as she approached. Phineas grinned at her and she felt herself warm up a little bit, but even this wasn’t enough to completely lift her spirits. It was that cold.

“Whatcha doin’?” Phineas called out, eyes twinkling with the kind of excitement that somehow came without buckets of caffeine.

“Freezing.” She answered, barely getting the word out before her shivering made speech difficult again.

Ferb only cocked his head to the side, concerned, but she waved him off and started walking. The sooner they left, the sooner she could defrost herself in the hallway before first period.

“You excited for creative writing?” Phineas asked, jogging a bit to keep up with her.

“Y-Y-Yes. Milly said she loves Ms. Netsua and I-I-I haven’t done much writing since we d-d-developed that four part miniseries for the BBC.” Isabella answered, still smiling a bit despite the fact that basic diction was proving to be very difficult.

“Here.” Phineas said, unwinding his scarf and placing it around her shoulders.

She gasped a bit at the motion, but the dry, bitter air that had been present a second before was suddenly filled with his scent. Then she stopped breathing altogether.

_WHAT._

She had the presence of mind not to say that out loud, and settled for thanking him instead.

“No problem.” He answered, continuing his stride. When she didn’t follow, he turned back and looked at her, his cheeks and ears much redder than before.

“Oh, wait, now you’re going to be cold.” She said. The scarf was warm from having just been around his neck and she tried to soak in every moment of it before she had to hand it back.

“No, nope. Not cold.” Phineas replied, even as his cheeks turned redder.

She looked over at Ferb, who seemed to be enjoying the scene in front of him immensely. He shrugged at her and followed his brother. Isabella picked up the pace and joined them, confused but definitely not unhappy with the arrangement.

In the Flynn-Fletcher household, Candace had her nose pressed up against the window, watching the exchange with interest. To the rest of the world, it looked like the older sister had fallen back into old habits, and although the spying part was true, her busting senses were completely dormant. She had been lying in a chair, looking through the syllabi for her upcoming courses and checking on textbook orders. She still had a couple weeks before school started back up, and after having had breakfast with her brothers for their first day back to school, she decided to settle down with her laptop before meeting up with Jeremy. Isabella’s pink hat had caught her attention, and she moved to the window in more nostalgic fashion than anything else, watching them walk down the drive. It felt like only yesterday they were putting together a holiday special in summer, clad in sweaters in the middle of July. She placed at hand on the window pane only to recoil back. Today was most definitely not a warm July day.

Candace was about to walk away when she saw it happen. Phineas took off his scarf and wrapped it around Isabella. She squinted, trying to see the girl’s reaction, to see if she had any symptoms from her previous crush, perhaps even some heart eyes. If there was a reaction, it was measured. Maybe the distance was too far, Candace couldn’t fully make out her expression, but even as she tried to read more into the situation, she realized it didn’t matter. It wasn’t anything she would be able to report back to Phineas.

Since learning about her brother’s crush three and a half years ago, Candace was always looking for signs that Isabella may feel the same way she had in their childhoods. She had tried to tell Phineas about it, but he always brushed her off like she was doing it to humor him. People could say what they wanted about her and Jeremy, but at least they were pretty obvious and open about their feelings. Made things a lot simpler, in her opinion.

The trio walked away into the snowy background and Candace sighed. She walked back to the chair, plopping down.

 _Soon._ She thought to herself. _Not today, but soon they’ll both figure it out._

Down the street, the aforementioned trio continued their conversation about their new class. Through the years, their group realized that their wonderfully open and flexible schedules were only going to get more packed, and, well, not flexible. They had decided that every semester, they would schedule in the same extracurricular class, guaranteeing at least one period in the school day when they could all be together. One can only imagine the kind of juggling the school counselors had to do to get Isabella, Phineas, Ferb, Buford, Irving and all of the Fireside Girls into one period. The year Baljeet requested to be a teacher’s assistant in their Intro to String Theory class was the cherry on top. Life had started to get in the way, though, and once in a while one person in the group would need to skip a semester. Usually it was one of the Fireside Girls, but last year even Ferb and Irving had to miss a class. Coming into the end of their senior year, the only people in the group who had successfully kept their pact through all four years of high school were Isabella, Phineas and Buford. They didn’t know it, but Isabella had made “Class Buddies” patches for the three of them. They were in her backpack as she walked across the snow, waiting until third period to get passed out. Buford insisted he only accommodated the class to keep from turning into a cat kid, but she knew his reasoning was a bit more sentimental than that. And plus, he was already a cat kid, so that was a moot point. So, it was a well-deserved patch.

“There has to be a way of including Underwater Basket Weaving Techniques…” Phineas trailed off. He was trying to think of a big idea that would somehow incorporate all eight of their class topics. 

“If we move the trampoline to the lake, it wouldn’t be a hard transition.” Isabella answered.

“Brilliant!” Phineas said, pumping a fist into the air. Ferb took out a notebook and jotted it down.

Isabella giggled at the display.

They came up to the school and she realized she wasn’t really cold at all anymore. In fact, she wouldn’t have minded staying outside a bit longer. She watched Phineas run up the steps and greet their friend group. She had been a bit sad throughout the break, knowing this would their last semester together, but she wasn’t feeling sad today. Yeah, she may have gotten over her romantic feelings for Phineas, but she couldn’t help but smile at his bubbly optimism, the excitement that simply radiated from him.

And his scarf was still around her neck. Not a bad way to start the semester.

Isabella ran up after Phineas, uncoiling the scarf around her neck to give back to him. Some of the girls had glanced over and seen it, but she ignored their pointed looks. She would have time to explain later but right now she had to stay cool and collected. The weather made the former pretty easy, but the latter part… well, she had never been all that good about staying collected around Phineas, but who knew. New semester, new her. No romantic feelings.

The bell ran overhead and they shuffled in.

“Phineas!” She called out, grabbing his hand to keep from losing him in the crowd. And maybe for other reasons. He clasped hers back, leading her through the packed hallway, and something about it felt too natural for comfort. That composed thing? It was out the window. No romantic feelings? Well…

He finally managed to get them into a side hallway, turning around and forgetting to let go of her hand.

“Yeah?” He asked, eyes beckoning something in a way she didn’t understand.

“Your scarf.” She got out, offering the article of clothing to him rather lamely. Suddenly, she was wishing for the cold to come back. She didn’t understand what was happening, but their casual morning routine had become charged way too quickly and she was feeling like she would burst into flames just from his look. She was longing to go back to their walk, to the cold wind and his warm scarf.

“Oh.” He deflated a bit.

_Why does he look disappointed…_

The warning bell rang.

Phineas reached out to grab it, but without thinking, Isabella pulled back her arm.

“Actually,” she said, looking down and tracing the red and yellow stripes as if they would be the ones to answer her question, “would you mind if I kept it for the day? We still have to walk back, and…”

She chanced a look at his face and was surprised to see him smiling.

“Please, do.” He told her.

They ran to their respective classes, Isabella clutching to the scarf. They would meet up again for second period, and third, of course, but having his scarf oddly made it feel like he was still with her. She shuffled over to the front, where Gretchen and Holly had saved her a seat, and pealed off her coat. Thankfully, she came in with so little time before the bell that the girls couldn’t question her too much.

Isabella kept the scarf on her lap even as her coat hung on the chair behind her. She looked down at it and suddenly remembered the holiday special from all those summers ago, the one where she sang “Let It Snow”, and the image of this scarf on a snowman Phineas popped into her mind. She had taken it and wrapped it around her neck herself, singing about warmth like it wasn’t in the middle of July.

But that’s not what happened this time. He had given it to her. Wrapped it around her because he had noticed she was cold…

She held onto to the scarf a bit tighter, as if it could disappear at any moment, a prop from days gone by.

But it didn’t. It was still there. Throughout class, she unconsciously played with the fabric, tracing the threads with her fingers. The bell rang faster than expected, and she casuallytossed the scarf around her neck, scooping up her book and grabbing her coat. Phineas was waiting by their lockers, leaning on hers and talking to Katie and Ferb. He glanced over and beamed at her. Her hand unconsciously went up to the scarf, as if to make sure it was still there. 

_Okay,_ she thought to herself, _maybe some romantic feelings._

**Author's Note:**

> AHHHHHHH! THANK YOU FOR READING!  
> YOU ALL ARE SO AMAZINGLY SUPPORTIVE AND IT MEANS EVERYTHING TO ME!


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